Word Count: 277
Preface
There once was a little girl who played with fire. She was small and pale as the glow of the fire grazed her dark locks, the flames tall and vibrant. They danced together, moving to the music that the winds sang. She laughed and twirled, jumping around the fire, twisting, spinning, singing.
Her parents always warned her of the dangers. It will burn you. It will hurt you. It will destroy you.
Yet she could never seem to keep away. Every evening, she would creep into the woods and birth her friend once more to dance under the stars. It yerned to touch her flesh, but the little girl laughed and danced away when it came too close. She could feel its heat, its burn, but she was careful. She took heed of her parents warnings, dancing at a distance, until she could just be seen at the edge of the woods, dancing with flames that she could no longer see. She had grown, no longer a child with frivolous dreams, and she danced alone under the stars.
Stay with me. The flames begged.
The girl, grown from immaturity, shook her head. I am hurting, old friend. I cannot create you every night.
Why are you hurting?
The girl's eyes, darker, wiser than when she was a child, filled with anguish. You.
She lifts the sleeves of her dark sweater to reveal skin- skin that was once smooth and unblemished. It had darkened with burns and scratches, dark lines where her old friend had touched her. She remembered the burn, the hurt, the pain.
You have done this to me.
ns 15.158.61.8da2
